this morning on "early today," israeli military forces macing near the palestinian border. show of force or ground invasion ahead ? a texas tragedy as a train slams into a parade float. former cia director david petraeus faces the fire in the benghazi terror attacks. >> announcer: this is "early today" for friday, november 16th, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. and the world is holding its breath this morning as tensions in the middle east reach a boiling point. this, after days of fierce fighting between israel and gaza militants. an attempt at a brief cease fire was unsuccessful this morning as

palestinians unleashed a fresh round of air a being at thats. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not backing down. >> the past 24 hours israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. >> nbc's martin fletcher is live for us in tel aviv. martin, what's the latest? >> reporter: lynn, good morning. following up on netanyahu's threat. last night 16,000 israeli reserve soldiers were called up. they've called up half of that number of 30,000. they're moving south of where the army is moving south of the border. they're moving down tanks, armored personnel carriers. among those reserve soldiers called up also included officers and soldiers who are experienced specialty is dealing with enemy civilian population. yet another hint that an israeli ground invasion is very much on

the curb. it's not been ordered. there was a cease fire briefly in gaza this morning because the egyptian prime minister have been visiting gaza on the one hand as a show of support for the palestinians. they're also trying to encourage hamas to have a cease fire. already this morning there's been 85 rocket attacks by israel against palestinian targets in 45 minutes. that was a heck of a 45 minutes targeting mostly underground rocket launching sites. israel has said they want to expand the operation of its targets not only against rocket installations and fabrication centers and stockpiles but to go closer to the civilian population where some of those rockets are being fired from. >> martin fletcher live for us in tel aviv. martin, thanks so much. elsewhere, "the new york times" reports that the defense department has given the obama

administration an assessment of what this might entail. the pentagon says a u.s. military effort to seize syria's stockpile would require upwards of 75,000 troops and the times reports that senior american officials are concerned that hezbollah has set up camp near the chemical weapons depose. four people were killed in texas when a freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans. this is just terrible. the accident happened at a railroad crossing in midland, texas, as the float tried to get around the safety gates and lights. the float was made with a flatbed trailer. in addition to the four deaths, others were injured. >> this may be one of the most tragic events we've had in our town and it's a sad day.

i shook their hands and saw them personally, met their wives. it truly was an honor to be in their presence. these guys are true american heroes. >> that's for sure. secretary of defense leon panetta issued a statement saying he's deeply saddened. the ntsb is sending a team to mid land to investigate. today is the day former cia director david petraeus faces lawmakers. he's due to testify behind closed doors but there is no doubt he'll also be asked about his extramarital affairs. tracie potts is on capital hill for us with those details. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. that is not supposed to be the focus, but they want to know what former cia director david petraeus knows what happened in benghazi. as you noted, it is a closed door hearing so we will not hear his testimony on camera today or see it although senate leaders

have previewed his testimony already before he appears before those committees today. now this comes as we get word that the cia is investigating whether petraeus may have done anything wrong professionally during that affair with paula broadwell, whether he perhaps used agency resources improperly. that investigation is now ongoing as well. the fbi had concluded that this was a personal matter and that was one of the reasons it took a while to filter up to president obama. meantime, these committees on thursday saw real time video of the attack in benghazi and a couple of committees that were holding hearings without petraeus got into heated shouting matches about whether or not the u.s. intentionally misled the public into thinking it was a spontaneous and not a terror attack. u.n. ambassador susan rice, her name has been thrown out there as secretary of state, republicans are pushing back because she said five days after the attack it was spontaneous.

petraeus could shed some light on this. by the way, his testimony is closed. lynn. tracie potts for us in washington. tracie, thank you. well, for now for a look at the weather, let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. i'm surprised you showed up at work. >> i would challenge anyone to have an easier job today than me, even you. >> wow. thank you. i've been slafg away all evening. you don't know. >> i know. it's a mess in the kitchen. good morning, everyone. here's what we're looking at, nice, quiet day. just like yesterday. whatever you wore yesterday as far as the jacket and gloves went will work today. a little bit warmer in south texas. everyone else is the same, 20s and 30s. very typical for this time of years. we don't have any big storms to track. we had the rain moving up through georgia, south carolina, north carolina. that's trying to push out of the outer banks and west virginia.

it's a cold morning but there's a lot of sunshine. all of the stormy weather is all through california and the west coast. if you're traveling in the west, that's where you'll deal with that. here are some light rain showers kicking off the carolina coast. it looks like a nice friday. everywhere east of the rockies should have a good deal of sunshine and even on the eastern seaboard after a mix of clouds we'll try to get you into the 50s. looking good heading into the weekend. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. today's forecast, you can pretty much write this down and take it all the way through saturday and sunday. most areas in the country won't see a change in the weather pattern all the way through the beginning of next week. so if you like the weather yesterday, you'll like it today and probably right through the weekend. >> did someone script that for you, bill? >> it took a while. hours. >> i bet so. all right. thank you. well, coming up, the justice department brings down the

hammer on b.p. over the gulf oil spill. plus, 15 days after the storm, president obama returns to survey the damage and to lend some much needed emotional support. you're watching "early today."

well, here are some. stories making news this morning. b.p. has agreed to pay a record criminal penalty of $4.5 billion. attorney general eric holder says much of the money will be used to help restore the gulf. president obama got a firsthand look at hurricane sandy's disaster zones on new york's staten island on thursday. the president consoled grieving victims and vowed to stick with them. prosecutors in new york state are dropping drug possession charges against john bon jovi's 19-year-old daughter after her apparent state law. and some former first children gave a texas audience

an inside look at life in the white house. jenna bush haying ger reveals about having her first kiss on the executive mansion's first rooftop. steve ford talks about his mother complaining about having to cook dinner on the night gerald was sworn in. let's take a check at wall street. the dow lost 28 points yesterday. the s&p was down 2. the nasdaq fell 9. overseas markets the nikkei shot up 194. the hang seng gained 50. wall street will be watching today's first face-to-face fiscal cliff meeting. they predict a first half recession next year if the economy goes off the cliff. erskine bowles tells maria barto romo why he thinks there hasn't been a recession. >> the guys that are running for

office worship that great god of re-election and haven't focused on what's right for the country. >> the average rate on a 30 year lone has dropped to 3.34%. that's the lowest since 1971. federal officials are investigating whether fedex and ups aided and abetted illegal drug sales from online pharmacies. both companies deny any wrongdoing. mcdonald's u.s. chief is stepping down due to unusually poor fast food sales. thousands of united passengers were stranded thursday thanks to their third major computer glitch since june. a new survey says 86% of americans are buckling up today. hostess is set to announce its next step this morning after threatening to close up shop if striking workers didn't return last night. >> luke skywalker and princess leia have earned a spot in the

national hall of fame toy. we could use this on this shift. freet tow lay is snacking up its classic snack with a jolt of caffeine equal to a can of coke. cracker jacked is set to hit shelves later this year. "people" magazine weighs in on its sexiest athletes. we'll tell you who made the list. check this out. a policeman is inside his car when they capture this picture of this car barrelling towards him. details next. nothing exciting to talk about over the weekend about the weather. i'll jump ahead to wednesday and thursday of next week. that's your holiday forecast. you're watching "early today."

some other stories making news in america this morning. a dash cam captured one wisconsin police officer's brush with death during a routine traffic stop. watch that, the officer had just returned to his car when an oncoming vehicle barrelled right into his cruiser. amazingly the officer and the 71-year-old driver in the other vehicle walked away with only minor injuries. there's also new dramatic video of hurricane sandy's flooding. surveillance cameras were running when a 13 foot storm surge poured into the subway station. they're still closed. you can see why. in virginia tragedy was averted when this 4-year-old little girl leapt into action to

save her mom's life by calling 911. my mommy is having a seizure so i thought i could call you guys and i am 4 and i call people and i really need you to help me. >> okay. your mommy's having a what? >> seizure. >> up believable. little jayla driver's mom had a history of seizures and her parents taught her how to help at an early age. she did a great job at it. dreams of walking again finally came true for one ohio mom. the amazing fete came true when carolina hatten put on a wearable robot costing around $140,000. she became paralyzed from the waist down from a 2009 accident. it helps people balance and shift their weight. her next wish is to hold her 4-year-old son and be a normal mom. thursday night football. bills dolphins. buffalo opened the scoring with a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown and the bills defense

held the dolphins to under 200 yards total defense for a 19-14 win. looking good there. the nba, the still undefeated new york knicks made a dramatic fourth quarter comeback for a 104-100 win. miguel cabrera was named league mvp. buster posey was voted the national league's most valuable player. what do you think of this, four athletes including the patriots tom brady made "people" magazine's list of sexy men. mayor i don't remember chalmers plus olympic speed skater a polo ono and oscar pistorius. and just an amazing soccer goal here. look at this as a swedish player made a stunning overhead bicycle kick, whoa, from 30 yards away in a mass against england to open its new national stadium. he celebrated by ripping his

shirt off. did you get to see that? no? what? just ahead, thousands more people across the country are awake now. we'll tell you why. and is another breakup on the horizon for the kardashians? plus, why is vice president biden moonlighting with amy poehler? you're watching "early today."

well, the weekend forecast looks pretty quiet around the nation. let me advance to next week because a lot of people are

already asking me about their travel plans on wednesday before thanksgiving. it looks very nice. we remain in this quiet weather pattern across the country all the way through thanksgiving day actually. we will see a little return moisture out of the gulf. we could see some isolated storms. the northwest is by far going to see the worst weather as we even go through thanksgiving day. this is probably very hit-and-miss showers coming up through the middle of the country. the eastern seaboard looks fine. it will be a little bit breezy. that's one maybe minor thing to watch for the macy's thanksgiving day parade in new york. the thanksgiving travel period gets an acts. >> that's some good news. bill, thanks so much. well, it is an end of the era at the box office. twi-hard fans will be lining up to see breaking down 2. bill karins is heart broken. he's sulking. >> so happy this is over. >> the film is expected to rake in $150 million this weekend.

speaking of "twilight," the on and off relationship of kristen stewart and robert pattinson has been taking his toll on will ferrell. how heart felt. for will's sake we hope there's closure soon. and the cast and crew of the big bang theory decided to surprise their producers with a "call me maybe" flash mob. the chore rio graphed number was done in front of a live number. >> and chris and bruce jenner will be getting a divorce was quickly shot down by the kardashian matriarch saying it was total rubbish. british now apparently. nbc's parks and rec featured vice president joe biden who after going over a scene had this to say. >> now i just want you to know, i'm going to make two major speeches, meet a couple of thousand people but it will be a hell of a lot easier than this. >> little behind the scenes look there. > and finally the onion.

you know the onion? >> yeah. >> well, it's revealed their choice for 2012 sexiest man alive. it is none other than north korean supreme leader kim jong-un. >> we'll be nice, it's friday. >> we want to be nice to kim jong-un, really? and this comes to us from stanford, connecticut, where a couple of extreme athletes attempted to make their mark on the eighth annual guinness world record day. michael mena went eight feet in the air to record the highest forward lift on a pogo stick. they also used a pogo stick to hop 265 times for the most pogo jumps in one minute. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

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4:28 is your time now. it is 44 degrees. another cold start to your friday as we talk about your forecast and what's coming up for the weekend. and david petraeus facing a rough day on capitol hill as he prepares for tough questions from lawmakers about the deadly libya attack and his extramarital affair possibly. this morning we get a better idea of what he will say. good morning, everyone. i'm aaron gilchrist >> and i'm eun yang on this friday, november 16th, 2012. in virginia, an amber alert for a 1-year-old girl.

the little girl was taken by eric black and jennifer carlisle. police are not releasing any information about their relationship to the little girl, but they believe alexis is in extreme danger. investigators believe the trail may be heading to d.c. they may be driving a brown 1985 nissan station wagon with license plate xnj 9177. if you see alexis carlisle, call police immediately. police are asking for your help to find a missing prince george's woman. 90-year-old saki mcgurin was seen leaving her home wednesday afternoon in chillum. she may be driving a gray toyota row la. this morning one family relieved and one grieving after a not guilty verdict in the bowie state murder trial. a jury acquitted alexis simpson on seven charges, including first degree murder. she was accused ofbb